Triple Digit Temp and ATGATT

[buzzbomb]

There have been questions about wearing ATGATT and what it's like when the temp is ridiculous. I thought I'd share, for those that are curious.

All my gear is ventilated and perforated. I live in SC. I wore perforated stuff through the winter, because it's so much shorter than the summers here. Lots of layers and Freeze-Out gear got me through February and March.

110 degrees, Fahrenheit, in the shade, is what I'm writing about today. So let's get this out of the way: It's damn hot. Doesn't matter if you're naked, sitting on your front porch, with a fan blowing on you while sipping a mint julip. Triple digits is damn hot.

Riding in that kind of heat of is like sitting in front of an oven, in front of a giant hair dryer, while inside of a steel factory. It's just hot.

Have we got that out of the way? OK. ATGATT in that kind of oppressive heat? It's an exercise in fortitude. I walk out of my front door, and am just beat down by the heat. I get on my bike, complete my gear-up, and it's miserable.

While moving down the road, my carefully chosen gear moves a lot of really hot air. Miserable. I'm not going to be pleasure-riding in triple digit heat. The heat just stole the joy from my commute. It sucks.

Here's the however: However, it's frickin' darn hot! It doesn't matter what I'm wearing, or what I'm doing. If it's 110 darn degrees in the shade, it's hot no matter what.

So I commute to work, all ATGATT, and here's my little pearl of wisdom - the temperature really doesn't care. I'm ATGATT because bad stuff happens. When it's hot, it's just hot. It really doesn't matter if you're in shorts or full gear. It's still going to be hot.

While I was moving, I was less hot. While at a stop light, I was more hot. It's frickin' miserable, either way, and doesn't really matter.

The SouthEastern United States is arguably the Harley Davidson capital of the world. Haven't seen a single HD for days. Too hot for those bad-ass riders.

I was out in it. In my gear. It sucked. Am I some super badass rider? Nope. I'm just going to keep on doing what I do. It's going to be hot regardless of whether I'm ATGATT, squid, or stepping into a soon to be air conditioned cage.

I choose to be on my bike, in my gear, and temp be damned. Sure, I'm not pleasure riding in this heat. No joy, there. Hot is hot. Didn't stop me from commuting, ATGATT, though.

No excuses, ladies and gentleman. If it's hot, it's just hot. Doesn't matter what you're wearing, or what your doing. Triple digits is just really hot, and if you choose to be ATGATT, you're really not that much hotter than everybody else. Pretty much end of story.

Here's the afterword: Damn, it's hot. I'm in my gear. Damn, it's hot. I get to work all sweaty and stuff. So do the cagers. It's hot. At this point, I find myself having to toss in a big 'Ol, LOL! It's frickin' hot! Get the point? ATGATT or squid, it's still oppressively hot. Only in the case of a down, I'm better off than the squid.

Strangely, I haven't seen a squid for days...

 

[Detrich]

When it's triple digits I just drive... Risking heat exhaustion and slippery roads just aren't worth it to me.

But I agree that if u r going to be out there on two wheels to still be ATGATT.

 

[daddyrack]

I don't know how you guys do it. Lol but I'm not an ATGATT person. I can't imagine wearing a jacket when it's 80 out.

 

[NightmareSoldier]

Its truthfully not that bad, I wear a joe rocket phoenix 5.0 and sans my back protector (pro sub 4) it vents very well. I slack on lower body protection except for Steel Toe Boots, but Its nothing to carry an extra shirt if your worried about sweat, and i see plenty of riders sweating without additional gear why not add a little bit to the mix. Perforated or mesh jackets work surprisingly well, don't let the misnomer of 'jacket' throw you off.

 

[FastFreddy]

That's real hot. It hasn't got into the 40s for the last few summers here.

If I'm in my leather jacket and it gets hot, I open the zip and keep the top button done up, then the wind billows in the jacket. I also open the zips at the cuffs and let the wind blow thru. If I'm doing more than 45 km/h its cooler.

I have the mesh jacket and kevlar jeans if its too hot.

 

[daddyrack]

Iv tried opening up my jacket to vent it more but it's just not comfortable to wear even in the 80s Jeans steel toes gloves (some days) and my helmet 100% of the time. That's as geared as I get on hot days like that.

 

[BoneJj]

When it's triple digits I just drive... Risking heat exhaustion and slippery roads just aren't worth it to me.

But I agree that if u r going to be out there on two wheels to still be ATGATT.

This is me... When it's nasty hot like this I just drive... July and august are about the worst months to ride down here in Florida. I haven't been on a bike in a couple weeks because of it. I refuse to go out in such nasty heat. I'll ride all winter long down here but come the nasty summer months you wont find me on the roads on 2 wheels unless for some crazy reason it cools off for a day. By the end of September it should start to get tolerable outside again and that's when I plan to buy my next bike as it is. I still ride one of my friends here and there but right now I have been saying "pssshhaw, no way..."

When it's nice and cold out I put on so much gear that if I do go down, I'll just be landing on lots of padding... LOL. I put the nice wind breaker in my jacket along with the nice padded insulation liner, lol. It works great for a pillow during camping trips after I get in my sleeping bag. I also prefer to go camping in the winter time as well as it's much nicer at that time of year IMO. Hell, I enjoyed it when we had to field training in the winter, best time for me.

 

[BKP]

I have a Dianese Air Flux jacket. I don't believe you can get "meshier" than that. I rode the other day (106 degrees) without it. I don't normally squid, and I certainly don't advocate it, however, it's not normally post-100 degrees in Atlanta.
As efficient as the Dianese is, I was cooler without it. With it, I felt over the edge, even with the Heat-Out shirt underneath (which works incredibly well sub-100 degrees).... Perhaps it's some dynamic of evaporative cooling, I don't know.
Still wore my kevlar Jeans, my Moment of Truth boots (great for this weather), and A*'s Air Carbon gloves, as well as my Scorpion lid (it's not as plush as my Arai, and therefore a bit cooler - and actually vents a bit better).
With the stock windscreen, I can't say the massive wind hitting my chest felt bad...
While I'm definitely a big believer in full gear, normally, these last couple of days have been anything but normal...

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk 2

 

[MNGreg]

Hit a heat index of 109 yesterday at work. I wore my transition 3 jacket and overpants.. Very hot at stop lights but comfortable when moving. Just need to stop maybe every hour to get more fluids into the system.

Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Rabbitman109]

While it definitely sucks wearing all the gear when riding in hot weather, I would not go without to be more comfortable, because if I go down, I know that will be extremely UN-comfortable the amount of pain that I could be in if my skin touches the pavement. It just isn't worth it to me to go without the gear, don't want to risk my health for that.

 

[Marthy]

Same here in Florida. Even in July and August... It gets hot like crazy and I'm not talking about the humidity! Still wearing all my gears. If I do a little ride around the block in town I sometime skip the pants and wear jeans and regular shoes. But as soon as I know I'll hit over 30 MPH... proper pant and boots are on.

 

[AngryAnt]

Hi guys! I guess I haven't checked in on the forums since fall, just got out of the habit I suppose.

My 6R is still my main form of transportation (my wife has a car, I get the bike) so I've still managed to commute to work every day for the last year, winter included, except for a handful of days where the weather was just too bad, rain gear or not, in which case my wife would drop me off at work.

That being said, I hope to finally buy a second car this month (my birthday!). It'll be a year since I sold the scooter for the 6R, and I've finally come to the conclusion that riding a bike just isn't as fun when I don't *choose* to ride a bike. These 100+ degree days lately and the 30 degree mornings in winter and the heavy rainy June days just take the enjoyment right out of it.

So if you're not enjoying it because of the heat / cold / rain / whatever, why ride a bike? So hopefully soon I'll be investing in my second car, and because of limited garage space I have to decide if I'm keeping the bike or not. Ideally I want to keep it for nice days, but if everything won't fit in my garage its got to go. Recent crime in our city won't allow me to comfortably keep it, or the car, out on the road.

I'm with you, here in the Southeast, its just too damn hot once it hits 90+ with 60%+ humidity. I don't go without my gear (or at least helmet, jacket, gloves) and working in an office, it doesn't look very good to show up to work all sweaty either. In reality we want to move away from the Southeast in general, so one day far in the future I hope to have a bike I can ride around in a more comfortable climate, even if it means I ride less in the winter.

Sooo hot today...I'm actually looking forward to buying a cage

 

[JSP]

My car has no AC so its hotter to take the car haha. Oh it sucks... At least we are not being blasted with the heat like the rest of you are.

 

[AngryAnt]

My car has no AC so its hotter to take the car haha. Oh it sucks... At least we are not being blasted with the heat like the rest of you are.

In all seriousness, my wife and I have discussed moving to Oregon or Colorado within the last week. We took a long vacation to Europe a month back, and when we came back it really drove home how much we hate the weather here, the people, and pretty much the whole area...

If I found a job with the same salary in either of those places tomorrow, I wouldn't think twice about moving...

 

[dart1963]

wait, did you say it is HOT down there?


you missed one other aspect of ATGATT over shorts and a tee... sunburn... you're protected from it with gear.... I know.. I burn just thinking about the Sun (Dang German and English genes), I wear long sleeves and people ask how I can stand it, when I explain I'd rather long sleeves then a lot of gooey sunblock, they get it... still have to use it on my exposed area's

 

[MNGreg]

WHOA!!!! ANGRYANT!!! I was just wondering the other day what happened to you! Seemed like you fell of the earth! LOL
Welcome Back!!!

 

[JSP]

In all seriousness, my wife and I have discussed moving to Oregon or Colorado within the last week. We took a long vacation to Europe a month back, and when we came back it really drove home how much we hate the weather here, the people, and pretty much the whole area...

If I found a job with the same salary in either of those places tomorrow, I wouldn't think twice about moving...

You should! You wont regret it. It is beautiful out here.

Weather Headlines - weather.com

 

[buzzbomb]

wait, did you say it is HOT down there?


you missed one other aspect of ATGATT over shorts and a tee... sunburn... you're protected from it with gear.... I know.. I burn just thinking about the Sun (Dang German and English genes), I wear long sleeves and people ask how I can stand it, when I explain I'd rather long sleeves then a lot of gooey sunblock, they get it... still have to use it on my exposed area's

You're right, I did forget to mention that other positive aspect of gearing up. I mentioned in my original post that when it's really hot, it's just hot, no matter what. One of the benefits the ATGATT rider gets to enjoy over the squid is protection from the sun.

In my pre-ATGATT days, sunburn, sometimes bad sunburn, was commonplace. Even though I was all hot and sweaty, the wind of riding cooled my skin just enough that I only actually felt the burning when stopped. After a multi-hours ride, I was pretty much guaranteed to be badly burned. Of course I seldom thought about it beforehand, or cared enough to slather on the sunscreen like I was at the beach. So I'd suffer through burn after burn, like a moron.

Another, often forgotten benefit is getting caught in a heavy rain. Ever been all squidly, and trying to ride in the rain at highway speeds? If you haven't, it's amazing how much it hurts. It's like people are throwing darts at you.

Nope, can't say I miss those days.

 

[RandiZ]

perpetual summer

I was almost always cold. While riding and living in Florida was certainly warmer than in NY, I was used to wearing jeans all year long anyways. The MOST IMPORTANT thing to do in hot weather is to stay hydrated. I noticed that bad thinking and dehydration happened after as little as 30 minutes of riding in Florida heat. I won't bore anyone with the physiology of it. But if you are sweating you are losing essential body fluids. Dehydration can be deadly in and of itself let alone being on a motorcycle AND dehydrated. Sometimes water won't cut it and I need more than water, like gatorade or powerade, preferably cool NOT cold. Also, if the air is dry you won't necessarily know you are dehydrated because your sweat is evaporating quickly.

Now as a woman of a certain age, I am warm most of the time all year round. My leather winter/fall jacket is perforated along with my white/gray summer mesh jacket. Just bought some lighter weight, more perforated gloves that also have special finger tips for using my phone. But I wish they were also white/gray. Now I want some white/gray perforated over pants that I can wear over shorts. And of course they have to be the right price.

 

[AngryAnt]

WHOA!!!! ANGRYANT!!! I was just wondering the other day what happened to you! Seemed like you fell of the earth! LOL
Welcome Back!!!

Thanks Greg! Yeah I think I just got burned out at work and when I came home, I refused to even look at a computer, much less browse forums and the like. A vacation cleared that up a little

In other news, its not quite as hot here now - I just rode home through a thunderstorm

/still looking forward to having a cage to drive...if all goes well, it's gonna match my bike!